ménager

See also: menager

French

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /me.na.ʒe/
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Audio (France (Somain)): (file)

Etymology 1

From ménage +‎ -er.

Adjective

ménager (feminine ménagère, masculine plural ménagers, feminine plural ménagères)

household; cleaning
les tâches ménagères
the household chores

Noun

ménager m (plural ménagers, feminine ménagère)

(rare) househusband
Synonym: homme au foyer

Etymology 2

From ménage +‎ -er.

Verb

ménager

to husband, to conserve
to treat gently, treat nicely
- 1857, Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary […]‎^[1], Paris: Michel Lévy Frères:
  Homais souffrait en écoutant ce discours, et il dissimulait son malaise sous un sourire de courtisan, ayant besoin de ménager M. Canivet, dont les ordonnances quelquefois arrivaient jusqu'à Yonville; […] .
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)
to conserve, go easy on
(reflexive) to go easy, take it easy

Conjugation

This is a regular -er verb, but the stem is written ménage- before endings that begin with -a- or -o- (to indicate that the -g- is a "soft" /ʒ/ and not a "hard" /ɡ/). This spelling change occurs in all verbs in -ger, such as neiger and manger.

Conjugation of ménager (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	compound	avoir + past participle
infinitive	simple	ménager
present participle or gerund¹	simple	ménageant /me.na.ʒɑ̃/
present participle or gerund¹	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		ménagé /me.na.ʒe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	ménage /me.naʒ/	ménages /me.naʒ/	ménage /me.naʒ/	ménageons /me.na.ʒɔ̃/	ménagez /me.na.ʒe/	ménagent /me.naʒ/
	imperfect	ménageais /me.na.ʒɛ/	ménageais /me.na.ʒɛ/	ménageait /me.na.ʒɛ/	ménagions /me.na.ʒjɔ̃/	ménagiez /me.na.ʒje/	ménageaient /me.na.ʒɛ/
	past historic²	ménageai /me.na.ʒe/	ménageas /me.na.ʒa/	ménagea /me.na.ʒa/	ménageâmes /me.na.ʒam/	ménageâtes /me.na.ʒat/	ménagèrent /me.na.ʒɛʁ/
	future	ménagerai /me.naʒ.ʁe/	ménageras /me.naʒ.ʁa/	ménagera /me.naʒ.ʁa/	ménagerons /me.naʒ.ʁɔ̃/	ménagerez /me.naʒ.ʁe/	ménageront /me.naʒ.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	ménagerais /me.naʒ.ʁɛ/	ménagerais /me.naʒ.ʁɛ/	ménagerait /me.naʒ.ʁɛ/	ménagerions /me.na.ʒə.ʁjɔ̃/	ménageriez /me.na.ʒə.ʁje/	ménageraient /me.naʒ.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior²	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	ménage /me.naʒ/	ménages /me.naʒ/	ménage /me.naʒ/	ménagions /me.na.ʒjɔ̃/	ménagiez /me.na.ʒje/	ménagent /me.naʒ/
(simple tenses)	imperfect²	ménageasse /me.na.ʒas/	ménageasses /me.na.ʒas/	ménageât /me.na.ʒa/	ménageassions /me.na.ʒa.sjɔ̃/	ménageassiez /me.na.ʒa.sje/	ménageassent /me.na.ʒas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
(compound tenses)	pluperfect²	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	~~nous~~	~~vous~~	–
simple		—	ménage /me.naʒ/	—	ménageons /me.na.ʒɔ̃/	ménagez /me.na.ʒe/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
¹ The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
² In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).